Jay-Z To Re-Release “Decoded” November 1

Jay-Z will add to and re-release his best-selling book Decoded on November 1 in the paperback edition.

The new version will feature a new cover (seen below), a new chapter, a new foreword, seven additional illustrations, and three songs: “I Know”, “Young Gz”, “Lost One.”

The following is an exerpt from the new Afterword:

What still excites me about rap is that it’s an open thread, a cipher that listeners find their own meanings in. The point of this book is not to settle arguments or transform rap songs into neat stories with a beginning, middle, and end.

Rather, I’m trying to point readers to some ideas and information, get them to see deeper into the music than they saw before and learn more about worlds different from their own (or find new ways of looking at the worlds they already know)—to find their own meanings and connect them back to their own lives. I want readers to see the craft and learn the context—and I want them to still be able to feel the magic, and enjoy the show.

The original version, co-authored by Dream Hampton hit shelves last November and landed on the New York Times Best Sellers List.